This Christmas season, a lot of focus will be on technology, gadgets, computers and software. But does technology replace the need to develop and practice good writing skills? Hardly! Who do you suppose writes all that content for websites, technical manuals, marketing and advertising? And who writes the product reviews and trade publications that keep us informed of new tech products and services? In fact, writing skills are just as important today as they have ever been.

I will resist focusing on writing and grammar as disappearing art forms in today’s education system and focus instead on the joy and dynamics of the written word.

WRITING WORKOUT

Much like physical exercise, one has to keep up with writing in order to stay in shape. I write a lot in my profession, I coordinate and edit all of these Tech Beat columns and I maintain a business blog. This routine alone keeps be honed and buff.

ORIGINS

I wrote a lot as a kid (oddly enough), including poetry and prose in grammar school and high school. As I got into the professional workforce, I stumbled across a book written by Brenda Ueland entitled If You Want to Write, which really helped me connect with the joyful aspects of writing. In fact the byline on the cover page says it’s a book about art, independence and spirit. The author’s first line in the book is everyone is talented, original and has something important to say. I had one particularly odious (look it up) superior at work who occasionally criticized me for my writing style. She used to say (among other things) that I used archaic language (OK, I described her as odious, but that’s a good description of her). I accepted that this was either her honest opinion, to which she was perfectly entitled, or her attempt to manipulate me. I kept an even keel, changed jobs and found that the more I learned about writing, the better writer I became.

FAVORITES

I’ve had many favorite writers throughout my life, but I regret to say that I do precious little recreational reading anymore because of lack of time. Despite a grueling travel schedule that you’d think would lend itself to regular paper or e-book reading, my travel diet consists mostly of professional reading and newspapers. I’ve tracked several columnists over time, including the late Jack Smith from the LA Times and the late Herb Caen from the San Francisco Chronicle. I also like Guy Kawasaki and Ferndale Enterprise local columnist Wendy Lestina. Finally, I subscribe to a Manage Your Writing blog (ManageYourWriting.com) by Kenneth Davis.

To me, communication should be powerful and compelling. Writing can be a drudge for the author and reader if it doesn’t contain joy and passion. Sure, there are tips, tricks and techniques that often work well, but they are no substitute for knowing the subject well and writing about it in such a way as to draw the reader into it. My only hard and fast rules are:

• Death to the passive voice  …  always write in the active voice
• Clarity above all  …  even if you break rules to get there, be clear in your meaning
• Get to the point  …  the earlier, the better.

Other than that, just get in touch with your inner child and channel that free expression and joy into the written word. Technology may be a technical and linear discipline, but not if you write about what it can do for people and how it can change our communities for the better.

So when you give a technology gift to a young person this holiday, think about how to relate it to the non-tech skills and abilities that person will need to use technology to make a decent living. How can you meet other local technologists and writers? It’s easy  …  join and become active in the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org)!

Crawford is president of Justice Served, a court management and technology consulting firm working with courts and justice agencies worldwide. He is an active member of the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org) and serves on the Humboldt #1 Fire Protection District Board of Directors (www.hfd1.org).